Visit to New Oriental Foreign Language School and dinner with family

We visited the “New Oriental Foreign Language School” in Yangzhou. This is the school’s website: http://www.neworiental-k12.org/english/index.htm This is a large school that houses boarding students from K-12. The school specializes in teaching students one or more foreign languages. The school principal, Dr. Wang Xiuwen, gave us an introduction to the school. He explained that this school is unique in that there are some foreign students and teachers. This is considered an elite private school in China. We were treated to an amazing music and dance performance by the students. Then all the families were introduced to a student to lead a school tour. We met “Sandy” - a fifth grader who was very sweet and was eager to show off the English she is learning. She showed us the facility including the school cafeteria, gymnasium, classrooms, and student dorms. Classes were in session. We were able to go in an art class where students were working on ceramics. We joined in for a few minutes with the students as they worked clay. We saw where students sleep - in rectangular rooms that sleep five, the beds arranged in neat rows with students’ belongings all arranged in precisely the same fashion. After the tour we met Sandy’s mom (and another family friend/relative whose identity we never really established) and they took us to their apartment in Yangzhou. They drove two large black Mercedes suggesting that this was a wealthy family. We were also joined by an interpreter (a local volunteer for our tour who teaches preschool and English in Yangzhou). At their apartment Sandy’s mom showed Talia and Shaelin how to make dumplings. The kids were very into this and made a bowlful. We were joined by a man who introduced himself a Mr. Zhou (who we initially thought was the dad but we later determined was a friend or work colleague). Then we went out to dinner at a local restaurant that they go to a lot (they said the restaurant is like family to them!). This was probably the best meal we had on the trip. We sampled many Yangzhou traditional foods like crab meatball soup (the crab made us feel right at home, since we’re from Maryland) as well as the dumplings that the girls had made earlier. The family were incredibly gracious and ordered so much food; whenever Shaelin said she liked something or wanted more, they would order up another dish. We left very full and grateful for having the chance to meet and dine with a local family. Here is a video that shows some of the performances at the school and,later that evening, the girls learning how to make dumplings with Sandy and her mom…

Exploring Yangzhou city

We spent several days in Yangzhou where we explored many sites in this beautiful city. Yangzhou dates back 2,500 years. Its known for a picturesque Grand Canal. We learned that by the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) Yangzhou became one of the most economically prosperous cities in the world. In Yangzhou we took a night boat cruise on the canal. At night the walls of the canal and many city sites are lit up in many colors. The day following our visit to the Children's Welfare Institute, we visited a scenic park (right next to the CWI) where we toured a small zoo and got to see the panda bears. Shaelin was particularly happy about this! We then had picnic in a open area where there were many activites and performances for us. There was kite flying (though unfortunately it wasn't really windy enough for our kites to fly). The performances included Dragon puppet dances, Chinese yo-yo performers, and hand puppetry. There were also several craft tables set up for the kids to enjoy including the most popular - a candymaker who fashioned the most artistic candy we've ever seen! His creations didn't last long though since they were quickly eaten. We spent several hours at the park and had a terrific time. This video shows some of these highlights...
We also took a boat ride on the famous Slender West Lake in Yangzhou. This is a gorgeous lake that is considered the most scenic place in Yangzhou and, we learned, has inspired many poems. The lake is lined with kiosks, pavillions, and small bridges. The most famous attractions at the lake are the White Pagoda, the Five Pavilion Bridge, Xiaojin Hill, Fuzhuang, and 24 Bridge, built in white marble that is 24 meters long and contains 24 steps. The video below shows some of these extraordinary sites…

Visit to Yangzhou Children's Welfare Institute

Our visit to the Yangzhou Children’s Welfare Institute was an extraordinary experience. This was the orphanage where Shaelin spent the first 13 months of her life. We emerged from the bus greeted by an overwhelming reception that included all the orphanage staff, local government officials (including the mayor of Yangzhou), all the caretakers, and kids who live there. There were many cameras, local TV crews, and reporters. First we walked past a chorus of drums as we headed to the welcoming ceremony. Then we watched a beautiful and moving welcome song performed by the staff and heard several speeches by administration and local officials. We saw several of Shaelin’s former caretakers who recognized her and looked in amazement at the “before and after” pictures we brought with us. There were many tears and hugs. A TV reporter interviewed us as they did several of the families in our group. Following the ceremony a large billboard was revealed with the baby pictures of all the kids attending the reunion. We spotted Shaelin’s picture right away. All the girls signed their photos. After that the girls made dumplings with the kitchen staff. On this trip, the kids made (and ate) a lot of dumplings! Then we were treated to a tour of the new children’s building that is under construction. We visited the babies and children who live in the orphanage. The caretakers let us play with the kids who were sooo adorable. Its clear the staff gives these kids all the attention they can and really cares for them despite limited resources. It was very emotional to visit these kids and we were grateful to have had the chance to meet them and spend time with them. The visit to the Yangzhou Children’s Welfare Institute to participate in the 20th anniversary was an experience we will never forget. The video below captures some of these moments….

TiananmenSquare and Forbidden City

At play in Beijing...

We had a great time walking to a local park near our hotel. We went at 7:00 in the morning which is when a lot of local residents are there doing morning exercises. We saw a few people doing Tai Chi and when our group arrived some joined in! We also saw many people playing table tennis; they were all really good. This was something you would never see in a public park in the U.S. Some members of our group joined in and quickly learned that table tennis in China is taken pretty seriously! We also saw people playing badmitton. There was also playground equipment for climbing, exercising, and stretching that were being used by kids and adults alike. Next to the playground was a preschool. One of our guides explained that it is a boarding school. It is much more common in China for kids to live at school as many parents need to work in different locations or need to work hours that make it hard for them to have the kids living at home. See the video below that shows some of our "play time" in Beijing...

Visit to Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs

A unique opportunity of this trip is that we visited the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs and BLAS (Bridge of Love Adoption Service). Anyone who has adopted from China is very familair with CCAA. It is the government office that controls the adoption process and does the "matches" - decides which children will be placed with which families. We visited the offices of CCAA, the agency that coordinated this trip. We actually were able to go inside the match room and see the files on the shelves of all the waiting families. We saw a file from "Adoptions Together" which we are very familiar with from their work in the Washington/Baltimore area. The wait for adoption is now THREE years, we are told. The staff was very friendly and informative. We were told that when doing the matches they look at the pictues of the families and try to match a child that looks a little like the parents. At BLAS all the kids received a calligraphy lesson and a music lesson to practice a song for a ceremony that was held the next day at CCAA. Also some parents saw a video made of a previous reunion trip in the fall at Fuling. The video was very moving and there were many tears, especially the parts of the video that showed the visit to the orphanage. At the ceremony the next morning we were greeted by a huge welcome with speeches from different government officials including the Chinese Vice Minister of Civil Affairs, Dou Tupei - a high ranking government official in China. We were welcomed by a slideshow on a big screen in the auditorium that displayed all the family photos that we had sent in prior to our trip. We also saw an amazing dance performed by some of the staff at BLAS - hard to believe they were not professional dancers, they must have been practicing for a long time. Then all our kids got on stage to sing to song they had practiced the day before. They were really cute and did a great job. All the families had their pictures taken with the minister and received a beautiful gift - a glass cube with a 3-D image of the great wall on the inside. After there were TV crews interviewing some of the families. It was a fun and really meaningful visit to BLAS and CCAA.

Press coverage of our trip

Our trip here is attracting a lot of press attention. We were greeted by some reporters at the Beijing airport and have encountered many TV cameras and photographers throughout our trip.
We now know that the press at the Beijing ariport was from China Daily, the main English language newspaper here. This article appeared on the front page.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-03/18/content_7588666.htm

This is an article about the trip, and about Chinese adoption, that appeared in the Financial Times. It was written by Patty Waldmeir who attended the reunion. Patty is an American reporter for the Financial Times who lives in China.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cc97dd18-a719-11de-bd14-00144feabdc0.html?SID=google

Also here a link to Chinese national TV (CCTV) news covergae of our trip:
http://azq.mca.gov.cn/article/English/200903/20090300028277.shtml

Here are some more articles and pictures posted on the website for the Ministry of Civil Affairs/BLAS
http://azq.mca.gov.cn/article/English/

This is a 3-page article that appeared in the Yangzhou newspaper.
http://www.yznews.com.cn/news/2009-03/20/content_2624229.htm

Another Yangzhou newspsper article:
http://www.yznews.com.cn/yzwb/html/2009-03/19/content_509145.htm